CHAPTER 14

(1491 B.C.)

INSTRUCTIONS

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²Speak unto the Children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the Sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall you encamp by the Sea. (The Lord continues to direct Israel as to exactly where they should go. From the military point of view, Israel had blundered badly, or so Pharaoh thought! In effect, they were hemmed in. But God was leading them and, as well, had a Plan and Purpose for taking them on this particular route, as we shall see. If we as Believers make the plans, they are guaranteed of failure. If God makes them, they are guaranteed of success.)

³For Pharaoh will say of the Children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. (Through foreknowledge, the Lord knew what Pharaoh would reckon in his evil heart, when he saw the Children of Israel seemingly hemmed in.)

⁴And I will harden Pharaohs heart, that he shall follow after them (the idea is, God would provide the means by which Pharaoh would harden his own heart; God is said to do many things, when, in fact, He does not personally do such, but does set the stage); and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. (Pharaohs continued rebellion will fall out instead to the Glory of God. If Gods people truly follow the Lord, whatever Satan does will always fall out to the Glory of God, but only if Gods people fully trust and obey.)

⁵And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? (Satan doesnt easily give up his attempts to hold Believers in bondage. But, if the Believer doesnt flag in his faith, and I speak of Faith in Christ and the Cross, total and complete victory is guaranteed [Rom. 6:14].)

⁶And he (Pharaoh) made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:

⁷And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. (Josephus records that Pharaoh had 50,000 horsemen and 200,000 footmen, as well as all the chariots.)

⁸And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the Children of Israel: and the Children of Israel went out with a high hand. (The high hand refers to a certain degree of pride and confidence. Regrettably, the high hand would change when they faced the Red Sea.)

⁹But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the Sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. (As stated, Pharaoh thought he had them hemmed in. So, in his mind, his victory was assured.)

¹⁰And when Pharaoh drew near, the Children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the Children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. (Verses 10 through 12 record the complaints of Israel. The fear, unbelief, and anger of the very people who had witnessed Gods wonders in the land of Egypt would appear incredible, but that each Bible student finds these evils in his own heart, and learns by sad experience that great depression of mind usually follows exceptional spiritual triumphs Williams.)

¹¹And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore have you dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? (Unbelief cried out: The wilderness will become our grave; but the result was that the Sea became Pharaohs grave.)

¹²Is not this the word that we did tell you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? (All Israel could see at this time was either slavery to the Egyptians, or to die in the wilderness. So most Christians compromise with the world and stay in slavery. They do not understand deliverance, because theyre looking for it in the wrong place. There is an alternative to Egypt, and to dying in the wilderness. It is the Cross [Gal. 6:14].) For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

¹³And Moses said unto the people (from this statement, we learn what the Preacher is supposed to preach), Fear ye not (that has always been the Word of the Lord; with God on our side, and us looking wholly to Him, we have nothing to fear [II Tim. 1:7]), stand still (all attempts at self-help must end; all activities of the flesh must cease; the workings of nature must be subdued; our Faith must rest completely in Christ and the Cross, and nothing else), and see the Salvation of the LORD (please notice, it is the Salvation of the Lord, and not at all of us; it is all by virtue of His Sacrificial, Atoning Work at the Cross), which He will show to you today (victory is yours today, if you will only believe and, by that, I mean believe correctly, which refers to the fact that the Cross is ever the object of our Faith [Rom. 6:3-14]): for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. (This didnt mean that they would never again see Egyptians, but it meant that they would never see them in this posture of what looked like victory for the Egyptians. The Believer may see the vices in the world, but they will no longer control him or, in fact, have any part in him. And this victory is forever [Jn. 14:16-17].)

¹⁴The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. (The Lord could fight for Israel only as long as they stood still. Had they turned and tried to fight the Egyptians themselves, and in any capacity, this would have hindered the Lord fighting for them, and they no doubt would have been defeated. Someone has well said, In Justification, the Lord fights for us, and in Sanctification, He fights in us.)

¹⁵And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore do you cry unto Me? (The Children of Israel were crying unto the Lord, but their cry was not of Faith, but rather of defeat. They complained, and accused Moses, which was the same as accusing God.) speak unto the Children of Israel, that they go forward (Faith is ever forward):

¹⁶But you lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the Sea, and divide it (with the command to go forward came the provision of Grace; this was to be the greatest miracle yet since creation; but the Lord has now performed even a greater miracle in delivering His people, and I refer to the Cross and the Resurrection): and the Children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the Sea. (From this it is very clear that the waters of the Red Sea did not begin to divide until the feet of the Israelites came to their very brink, otherwise they would have crossed by sight, and not by Faith.)

¹⁷And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get Me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. (Men do not have the final word, that belongs to God. We must never forget, Gods honor is always at stake. Proper Faith in Him will always vindicate His honor, despite the decision of men.)

¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten Me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

¹⁹And the Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them (the Angel of God spoken of in this Verse is actually a preincarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Lord Jesus is Jehovah and, one might say, the Jehovah of the Old Testament; He placed Himself between Israel and the enemy; in the same manner, the Believer may look for his difficulties, and not find them, because God is between him and them); and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them (this is the Holy Spirit):

²⁰And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them (to the Egyptians), but it gave light by night to these (to Israel): so that the one came not near the other all the night. (Concerning this, Mackintosh says: How like the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Truly, that Cross has a double aspect likewise. It forms the foundation of the Believers peace and, at the same time, seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The self-same blood which purges the Believers conscience, and gives him perfect peace, stains this Earth and consummates its guilt. The very mission of the Son of God which strips the world of its cloak, and leaves it wholly without excuse, clothes Believers with a fair mantle of Righteousness, and fills their mouth with ceaseless praise.

The very same Lamb Who will terrify, by His unmitigated wrath, all tribes and classes of Earth, will lead, by His gentle Hand, His Blood-bought flock through the green pastures and beside the still waters forever! [Rev. 6:15-17; 7:13-17].)

THE RED SEA

²¹And Moses stretched out his hand over the Sea; and the LORD caused the Sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the Sea dry land, and the waters were divided. (The strong east wind that God used to push back a path through the Sea was a Divine miracle, not something accomplished by the mere uncontrolled forces of nature itself. The indication is, the Children of Israel began to walk out into the Sea, with God opening it before them. The Sea opened at about the pace that they could slowly walk.)

²²And the Children of Israel went into the midst of the Sea upon the dry ground (this puts to rest the fallacy of the skeptics, that the Sea was only about two inches deep at this juncture; they didnt walk across through shallow water, but rather on dry ground): and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. (It is believed that the path through the Sea was from ten to twelve miles wide. Its depth was somewhere between 20 and 40 feet. The location was probably in the vicinity of the modern Suez, between the Bitter Lakes. The Lakes were then a part of the Gulf. The Psalmist said, He made the waters to stand as an heap [Ps. 78:13]. This must have been quite a sight with that wall of water standing up on either side!)

²³And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the Sea, even all Pharaohs horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. (Whether Pharaoh actually went in himself, the Scripture doesnt say; however, I choose to believe that the pride of Pharaoh demanded that he lead this charge and this attack.)

²⁴And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians (Josephus says concerning this: Showers of rain came down from the sky, and dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes of fire; thunderbolts also were darted upon them; nor was there anything which could be sent by God upon man as indications of His wrath, which did not happen upon this occasion. The words, troubled the host, in the Hebrew, actually mean threw it into confusion),

²⁵And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily (they found that their mighty chariot army did them no good): so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians. (They saw that the Lord was not only fighting for the Children of Israel, but was, at the same time, fighting against the Egyptians. They had been led into a trap, caused by their own rebellion against God. So, they had no one but themselves to blame.)

²⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out your hand over the Sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. (The Lord not only delivered Israel, but, as well, defeated the Egyptians. At Calvary, the Lord not only delivered us, but He also defeated Satan [Col. 2:14-15].)

²⁷And Moses stretched forth his hand over the Sea, and the Sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared (at about daybreak); and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea. (Exactly as the Lord had said, Israel would see these Egyptians no more.)

²⁸And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the Sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. (As every Egyptian was totally and completely defeated, Satan was totally and completely defeated, as well, at the Cross. Not one single bondage of darkness was excluded, but rather Jesus addressed them all.)

²⁹But the Children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the Sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. (It doesnt matter what type of deliverance is needed, God is able!)

³⁰Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. (Thus concluded the stubbornness of Pharaoh! Faith in Christ and the Cross renders death to the forces of evil.)

³¹And Israel saw that Great Work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians (God always performs a great work; He is still performing great works, and He shall ever continue to perform great works): and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and His servant Moses. (But regrettably, we will soon find that their faith was a shallow faith.)